Echoes in the Night Part 3
by Jordana16
Summary: Part three to Echoes in the Night...


Author: Dharyana

Overall Rating: R- Lots o' lots o' language in this part (I couldn't help myself) and a little violence as well.

Summary: A werewolf named Mikayla tries to avenge her sister's death in the NW…

Thanks to: Demeter Draven, Adrienne, Kat, Liana Savage, LDMGEM, Lakshmi, and Amy Tucker. You guys are great! Remember, please, please send some feedback! 

Note: You're going to have to excuse my lateness in getting this thing out because for the past couple of weeks, I have been really sick with something I just can't shake. I've gotten better to the point where I can crawl to my computer and type for a short period of time without feeling as though my head is about to explode. Also I had some personal problems as well, so bear with me you guys. I know this may not be my best effort, but oh well, I tried…

Part 3

"In the dark I watched you live you life/It was so sad to see you there and with your unhappy smiles/And the tragic tears that ran down you face…"

The night was made for running. He pounded across the damp, forest floor in his wolf-skin, feeling strong and alive. It was always so when he ran, the change sparked deep, primal feelings in him he could neither deny nor ignore. 

Mist shrouded his view of the path before him, and the bitter owl calls brought a grim, feral light to his eyes. He belonged in these woods more then he belonged in the pathetic pack or in the world of the vermin. The pack, he thought with distaste. He hated the other sniveling wolves in the area, and chose to avoid them whenever possible. 

With resolute, he pushed those thoughts from his mind and focused on the ones that really mattered. Like Rebecka…

It was here in these woods where he had chased his love, his life not quite five years ago. The knowledge burned through him, made him dizzy and gasp with sorrow.

Tears as silver as the moon dripped down his fur. Why couldn't she see? He had loved- and loved her still- with all of his heart, every ounce of his being. He wanted nothing more then for her to turn to him and say: _"I love you." _He snarled briefly and exposed canine teeth. She had never said that to him, even when he pleaded her silently to. _Please, please love me…_

Maybe, he had thought, she doesn't know I love her. Maybe, she does love me, and is too scared to admit it! He placed all of his hopes; all of his dreams on that last thought. _She just doesn't want to admit her love for me…_

He had worked up every ounce of his courage, bought her a bouquet of Irises and Daffodils (they were her favorites), and had, in a little Italian restaurant on the corner of Fourth and Broadway, confessed his love. She had cried.

__

"Don't talk like that. Please, I love you as I love my brother. Don't complicate things. Please…" It was then he saw the clear truth. It rang sterling in his mind, over and over. She doesn't love me. She doesn't love me… He died that day.

It was soon after that; she began to see Gabriel Sullivan. When he had seen them together, kissing, touching, and laughing, he went mad. 

His love turned black and thorny, and his logic became distorted. If he couldn't have her, then nobody- especially not Gabriel- would. He sat in his room for weeks, under the guise of illness, and planned. Rebecka always took to running in the forest by her house on the full moon. He would chase her, make her suffer, and then he would murder her. 

He had, and now she was gone forever. Nobody had found out, either. They all hoped and assumed that because her neck had been ripped out and the rest of her untouched, it was a vampire killing. He'd planned so well.

The moon hung, fat and bright in the early summer sky. He stopped quietly and howled deeply into the night. For Rebecka, he thought, for the love of his life. 

He stopped howling and contemplated in the dark. He was lonely. Becka was gone and he rarely talked to Gabriel (why should he?). There was no one in the pack for him. No one to touch his soul, to share his pain and his life. 

Unless, of course, it was Mikayla. His lips parted into a semblance of a smile. She looked so much like her sister. Or he thought she did. The last time he had seen her was at Becka's funeral, with her sad, young blue eyes, and a face that held the promise of Rebecka in it. What would she look like now? He knew her eyes were blue and not Rebecka's stunning green. Did it matter? He would have frowned if he could have, and began to run again, this time in the direction of the Devereux house. 

Did it matter what color Mikayla's eyes were? Desperately seeking the answer to this question, he moved, fast as the wolf of the north, to Mikayla. Should he change to his human-skin and go talk to her? Or perhaps he should just observe her from afar? 

I can't talk to her yet, he thought absently. It's far too soon. He would watch her for now, and pretend she was Rebecka. He would talk to her eventually, build up her trust, and make her love him. Then he would kill her. 

The sheer beauty of his plan made him shiver with delight. It was the perfect revenge. 

He arrived at the Devereux house and crept slowly in the blackness. He mustn't give himself away. 

He saw Mikayla in Rebecka's room. Her hair was wet and her face was pink from scrubbing. Fresh from the shower, he thought with some derision. How many times had he watched Rebecka in the same scenario? 

She turned towards him suddenly and rested her arms on the windowsill. Her eyes roamed across the backyard, and briefly rested on him. He sharply inhaled. Did she see him? The second he thought that, here eyes resumed their survey, and he let out a deep breath of relief. He took this opportunity to study her. What he saw chilled him to the bone. 

The thick, blonde hair, the high cheekbones, the wide curved lips, the delicate hands… She was Rebecka. 

It didn't matter then, about her eye color. A violent, cold shiver ran up from the base of his spine to his scalp. As far as he was concerned, it was not Mikayla before him, but his lost, gentle love… He slunk further into the shadows just to be sure she wouldn't see him. He felt cold as ice then, and nothing he could do would ever get him warm. 

There was a party tomorrow at Red Creek, for the teen wolves in New Lenexa. He was no longer a teen wolf, but he was always welcome at Red Creek, and he was sure he would be able to attend. He would find her there, and they would talk. He would pretend to express sympathy for her father's death, and they would bond.

He glanced up at the moon. By the next full moon, Mikayla would be dead; her blood spilled in the forest just like her sister's.

Mikayla turned away from him and walked out of his sight, presumably back into her room. He was going to stay a while longer, but he heard a woman's loud, harsh voice coming from the downstairs area. She didn't sound very pleased or sober. Regina, he rolled his eyes. _How they mighty had fallen…_

He raced away, into the sweet darkness of the night, thinking deeply about Mikayla and Rebecka.

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"I won't go, I won't sleep, and I can't breathe until you're resting here with me/And I can't leave this bed, risk forgetting all that's been…" 

"You know I love you," Rebecka smiled and held out a small, smooth hand to him. "I always will." Her voice was sweet, heartbreakingly young, and filled with…regret? Her green eyes were fixed on him and they seemed sincerely tragic. 

Gabriel Sullivan could only look at her and pray she was real. "Rebecka…" The name rolled beautifully off his tongue, just like it had in the old days. "I've missed you," he managed to say, and honestly couldn't think of anything else to say. What could you say to a dead girl? 

"Gabriel, there's something I need to tell you." Her lips curved downwards into a pout and a thin, distinct line formed between her eyes. "There's danger here." She lowered her voice and looked around as if to make sure no one could hear them.

She moved closer to him and whispered in his ear. "Gabriel, I'm afraid." Rebecka looked up at him and absently brushed a lock of hair away from her eyes. "Bad forces are moving into place. People are in danger." Her lower lip trembled slightly. 

"What do you mean?" The idyllic sense of wonderment at seeing Rebecka again- if only in his dreams- quickly gave way to a feeling of foreboding. 

"My sister, Mikayla, needs your help." Rebecka anxiously pulled him away from him, her wide eyes pleading. "You remember Kayla?" Rebecka's face paled and her hands started to shake.

"Rebecka, what's wrong?" Gabriel moved instantly towards her and reached for her. "Becka…" His fingers past right through her as if she was made of mist. 

"You've got to help her. Go to the party at Red Creek tomorrow. Please, Gabriel. Do it for me…" She was beginning to fade slowly away, and soon the only thing he could see were her eyes, begging with him.

"Help Mikayla…" The whispered words echoed in his ears long after he had woken up. 

He lay silently awake in the darkness of his small, cramped apartment bedroom reflecting about his dream. What did Rebecka mean about 'bad forces'? What did it have to do with her younger sister Mikayla? He scowled at the ceiling. Why was it so important for him to go this party at Red Creek tomorrow? Hell, he didn't even know if there was a party at Red Creek tomorrow. Plus, he wasn't a puppy any longer, and it made no sense for him to socialize with the young wolves that weren't even his age-mates. 

Gabriel laughed aloud. Of course it didn't make any sense. It was just a dream. If he was smart-which he prided himself on being- he would chalk the whole thing up to wishful dreaming.

He glanced absently at the small, black digital clock on his nightstand. Bold, red numbers declared it was just barely three in the morning. 

Forget it, he told himself angrily. Don't even think about trying to go to that party tomorrow. You know you can't face the pack again. 

__

"Please, for me…" Rebecka's words came back to him and he groaned. He was sighing and cursing himself even as he reached for the phone. His finger hesitated over the number pad. Should he call Mikayla? How old would she even be now and would she know about the party?

No, he decided, it wouldn't be right. He was almost certain he wouldn't get a favorable reaction from the Devereux's if he called right now.

Placing the phone back in place, he got up and crossed the room to get his phonebook, which happened to be buried in the dark recesses of his closet. 

It took him almost twenty minutes to find the damn thing under a rumpled black Armani jacket and its matching tie he didn't even know he still had.

Gabriel had almost no idea what had possessed him to keep the loathed thing. He hadn't bothered to look at it- let alone write in it- in almost five years. But as he examined it, old memories flooded back to him.

It had been a gift from Rebecca on his birthday, the last one they had celebrated together. In the upper right hand corner of the brown date book, there was a small darker brown stain where Rebecka had spilled coffee. She had been so upset about it, she had cried for nearly an hour until he had finally gotten her to calm down. On the side binding, there was a small, white line from when he had thrown it against the wall in a fight with Rebecka.

The thing was a living, breathing testament to his relationship with her. A relationship, he reminded himself as he forcefully ripped the date book open, which was very, very over. 

He flipped to the phone number section and began to look for someone he could call for information on the party.

Hates me, wants to kill me, wishes I was dead, he scrolled through his list of applicants with a grim smile. It was almost surprisingly funny how quickly former friends turned into enemies when you were suspected for the murder of your girlfriend. 

He got all the way to the V's without finding a prospect that wouldn't try to snap his neck if he ever so much as dialed their number. 

Villiers, Donna, Matthew, and Rudi sprung up at him through the darkness. Rudi, if he remembered correctly, had been an enthusiastic young boy, if not a tad annoying, who had followed Rebecka, him, and the rest of Gabriel's age-mates around like a second shadow. His parents, Donna and Matthew, had been the only ones to speak up for Gabriel after Rebecka.

He cautiously dialed their number, wondering what their reaction would be when they picked up the phone. 

It rang three times before a young, sleepy voice demanded to know who the hell it was. And they grow up so quickly these days, Gabriel thought with a sneer. 

"Hey, Rudi? Yeah, this is Gabriel. Listen, do you know anything about a party a Red Creek tomorrow?"

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"On a different day, if I were safe in my own skin/Then I wouldn't feel/Lost and so frightened…"

"MIKAYLA!" Regina's voice boomed up the stairway to Mikayla's bedroom. "Get down here NOW!" She sounded shrill and angry as hell.

Great, Mikayla thought, Regina's in one of her moods again. She's probably just pissed some loser guy turned her advances down at the bar. And now she's gonna take it out on me. This evening just keeps getting better and better.

Mikayla descended the stairs with some hesitation. When Regina was in a "mood", she often indulged in either screaming antics and/or physical beatings or long weepy spells in which she proceeded to ask forgiveness for every wrong she ever committed against you. 

"IF YOU DON'T GET DOWN HERE IN THE NEXT TEN SECONDS, SO HELP ME GOD..."" Regina didn't sound the least bit weepy.

The rage in her tone almost knocked Mikayla back a step, but she somehow summoned the courage to walk down the last few steps in the stairway to the living room.

"You called?" Mikayla crossed her arms and leaned against the banister.

"Don't sass me, girl." Regina growled and lifted her eyes to meet Mikayla's. "I'm not in the mood." The pure, unleashed fury in her voice made Mikayla cringe inwardly. God, I hope she doesn't try to hit me this time…

"Have I done something wrong?" Mikayla's voice wavered a bit, but that couldn't be helped. "Why are you so mad?"

"You know who I ran into at The Tavern tonight? Wanna venture a guess, Kayla?" The words were slurred and had a violent undertone in them.

"Who did you talk to Mama?" Mikayla slowly took a step back and surveyed the room looking for possible escape routes should things get out of hand.

"Old Mr. La Rue mentioned seeing a small, golden-colored, female wolf running through the forest when he was fishing today. He said it seemed odd, why would a wolf be running through the woods in broad daylight? He was plowed, so it was easy to get the essential information out of him." She paused to smile leeringly. "Yes, I know he's vermin, but what reason would he have to lie?" 

"What does this have to do with me?" Ice gathered around Mikayla's heart. 

"Think, Kayla, think really hard. How many small, golden-colored, female wolves like to run in the forbidden forest to defy their mothers? I thought I raised you better than this." Regina snorted derisively. "My god, what the hell were you thinking?" 

Regina picked up a vase of violets that had been resting on the coffee table and traced the outline of each petal with her index finger. She looked up sharply at Mikayla. "Answer me, bitch!"

"I…I…I don't know what you're talking about." Mikayla lied. She cringed when she saw the flash in Regina's eyes. Regina was beyond drunk now, and there would be no reasoning with her in her present state. 

"Tell me, Kayla, did you think of Rebecka when you were running through the woods tonight? Well, did ya? Come on tell me, 'cause I **REALLY** want to know." She threw the vase in Mikayla's general direction.

The vase didn't even come close to its mark, so there was no need for Mikayla to duck or try to evade the airborne flowers. None-the-less, she put a hand to her mouth to keep herself from screaming. She couldn't show she was frightened. Regina would rip her to pieces if Mikayla showed the slightest ounce of fear.

Seeing the obvious terror in Mikayla's eyes, and her struggle to control it, Regina laughed derisively. 

"Christ, you were always such an easy target. You were always so weak and spineless." In mid-sentence, Regina launched herself unexpectedly at an unprepared Mikayla.

She was hit with the full force of Regina's weight, and they both fell to the floor in a heap. 

Mikayla's chin connected solidly with the ground and a sickening crack echoed through the house. She screamed as horrid pain shot through her and had no time or energy to move as Regina began to hit and bite Mikayla. 

"Did you think you would get off so easily? How could you possibly think you wouldn't be punished for this?" Her mother screamed out the words even as she hit.

Mikayla didn't even try to fight back. Regina was bigger and a more experienced fighter then Mikayla would ever be. Personal experience had also taught her that fighting back was completely useless and only hurt more in the end. She just lay there as Regina punched and pounded on her. 

"Bitch, you were always so much fucking trouble. What the fuck is your problem? You're nothing like your sister. You're horrible, a pathetic excuse for a werewolf. If you weren't my daughter, I'd kill you." Regina's furious voice sounded so far away.

"Regina, please! Please don't…" A sudden blow to her right eye had Mikayla crying out. "It hurts so much. I can't feel…"

"Will you shut up?" Regina backhanded Mikayla and Mikayla's world was tinged with a red haze. "God, just shut the hell up!" Regina's voice trembled violently and the beating suddenly stopped.

The pain encircled Mikayla, and she couldn't seem to get her breath. Incoherent thoughts spun wildly through her head and there was a pounding in her ears. She could feel the warmness of blood on her face and she managed a small cry of alarm.

Regina got up slowly and looked down at Mikayla horrified. The wild, frantic light in her eyes had disappeared and it seemed the mood had passed.

She slumped to the sofa sobbing. Her topknot had come undone in the struggle and little strands of midnight hair trailed down her back. Her bloody hands were covering most of her face, and her shoulders were heaving back and forth in jerky movements. 

"Mikayla, please, forgive me. I don't know anymore. So sorry, so sorry…" Her voice sounded so innocent and ashamed. "I didn't mean…" She broke off on a sob and hurried from the room without even a second glance at her daughter who was sprawled on the floor.

Mikayla didn't hear her mother leave. In fact, she didn't hear anything at all. The brutal roar in her ears was the only thing she could register at the moment. 

The words 'severe concussion' and 'extensive internal bleeding' flitted in and out of her mind, but she couldn't grasp their meaning just then.

Oh, I'm gonna die, Mikayla thought wearily. Just like Rebecka. Gonna die… She let the sweet blackness take her and hoped when she awoke, the pain would be gone.

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"Even at a time like this, when the morning seems so far/Think the pain belongs to you, but it's happened to us all…"

"Remind me again why we're going to a party that is held by and for a couple of teenage werewolf delinquents." Ian Donovan adjusted his navy tie and idly shot a look over at his good friend Gabriel. "I mean, is there any logic at all to this little whim of yours?"

"I had a dream." The words were clipped and brooked no further inquiries. "You're just along for moral support." Gabriel shifted the stick shift of his BMW and drummed his elegant fingers on the steering wheel of his car along with the beat of "Dance with Me" by the techno group PKP. "Does that answer your question?"

"Tell me what you meant by 'I had a dream'. Did you mean you had a dream to go to this party?" What on Earth did Gabriel mean?

"Of course that's what I meant." Gabriel ran a hand through thick bronze colored hair. "Last night I had a dream my dead girlfriend told me bad forces were at work and that I should go to this party." He stopped short and hadn't realized how incredibly idiotic that sounded until he said it out loud. Gabriel's ears briefly flared pink around the edges with embarrassment. "I know that may sound…"

"Crazy?" Ian cut him off and stared at him a moment in utter amazement. "Let me get this straight. Your dead girlfriend visits you in a dream last night, and she speaks to you. When she speaks to you, she tells you 'bad forces' are at work and you should attend this little party. You have no idea why, though. You also have no idea what these 'bad forces' have to do with a pathetic party at the wilderness hellhole commonly referred to as Red Creek. Am I missing anything?" Vague irritation swept over Ian.

"She told me we need to help her kid sister, Mikayla." Gabriel kept his eyes focused on the road and waited for Ian's response.

"Pray tell, does this dead sweetheart of yours have a name?" The irritation had worn off Ian, and he was beginning to see the comical aspect of the situation. 

"Rebecka. It's Rebecka." Gabriel said her name through clenched teeth. A dark rage was working itself over Gabriel. "And don't you ever call her my dead sweetheart. If I ever…" He was losing control and cut himself off before he completely lost it.

An uncomfortable silence settled over the car. Ian had lined up several sarcastic responses to Gabriel's "she's not my dead sweetheart…" response but wisely let them pass. He could sense the time was at hand for a few diplomatic overtures.

"Obviously I've touched on a sensitive subject. For that I'm sorry." When Gabriel was still silent, Ian decided it was time for outright lies. "Anyway, I'm sure we'll have a positively smashing time at Red Creek." The British in Ian's voice crept out at this cheerful declaration.

Gabriel didn't say anything for at least another five minutes until he was sure he had everything under control.

"I forgive you, but Christ, did you have to wear a tie?" The pained, but humored tones in Gabriel's voice let Ian know that all was forgiven, but only if the subject was never brought up again.

"Of course I had to wear a tie." Ian taking the banter as a good sign, rolled his eyes in jest. "Ties are a sign of good breeding. Everyone knows that."

"Then why am I not wearing one?" Gabriel's temper was fast dissolving and his mind was already clicking through potential problems and worries.

I wonder what's changed. Will I be welcome here? Rudi had assured him that he was always welcome at a party, but now he wasn't so sure. What if Rudi was wrong?

"What is this blasted music you insist on listening to?" Ian massaged his temples with his fingers. He was no longer interested in why they were going to the party. The only thing he was interested in right now was the fact that the loud, vibrating electronic music was definitely getting to him. If his kind could have headaches, he would definitely have a migraine by now. 

Seeing the pained expression on Ian's face, Gabriel didn't answer, but merely turned the volume dial up to the max. There were times when he took simple pleasure in torturing his overly practical and conservative friend. And now, Gabriel thought with a grin, was definitely one of those times.

Ian sighed, but said nothing as the already loud music pounded even louder into his sensitive vampire ears. For the life of him, he just couldn't understand Gabriel at times. What was the man thinking? He had known Gabriel over four years and had rarely seen him express any emotion other then rage or annoyance. He also displayed the most annoying taste in music. Call it techno if you must, but by Ian's estimation, it was pure garbage. 

The man was certainly an enigma. But Gabriel was one of his best friends, which was perhaps why Ian was sitting in this car in the dead of a Friday night with the intent of going to a werewolf party. 

The sacrifices a friend made, Ian shook his head balefully. Why he could be at the elegant riverfront party he had originally planned to go to, nursing a glass of white wine, and avidly discussing the latest controversial topics in the night world. 

He didn't have anymore time to think of the riverfront party because they had arrived at Red Creek.

Gabriel got smoothly out and began to study the scene before him. Red Creek hadn't changed at all from the days He and Rebecka had come here for parties.

Ian stumbled on a pinecone while getting out of the passenger side of the BMW and muttered a soft curse. He hated the outdoors with a passion.

"Congratulations, Ian. You've made it to your first werewolf party." Gabriel eyed his friend with amusement.

"I've made it here, but I might not make it out." Ian looked towards the bonfire to his right. Young teenagers crowded around it and the surrounding rock ledge talking, drinking, and god knows what else. If he made it through this night unscathed, he'd be most surprised.

"Come on, Ian, you'll fit right in." Gabriel disguised a laugh as a cough when Ian looked at him bleakly. "Well, maybe not right in..." He surveyed Ian who was looking very much the rich boy in a- what was surely expensive- Gucci ensemble.

"So what's the plan? Or do I dare ask?" Ian leaned up against the car hood. "You do have a plan, don't you?"

"Well…" Ian gaped at his friend. He didn't have a plan? He had dragged Ian out to the middle of nowhere with no clue or even a fragment of an idea what to do when they arrived?

"It would probably be wise to converse with this 'kid-sister' you spoke about earlier. I mean, you did say the kid-sister needed help?" As much as he hated to admit it, Gabriel was clearly worked up and in need of some calming down. It would be futile to moan and groan about his current situation at any rate, so the only choice Ian had was to try to help.

"Yeah, I did." Gabriel shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. 

"Well, then, I have a plan. Our first and wisest option would be to talk to the sister and see what's she's all about. Since she was specifically mentioned. I think that would be our best bet at this point in time." 

"I agree. I'll talk to her." Gabriel sounded absolutely resolute on this and Ian could see his features were tightly in determination in the light of the bonfire.

"Well, I think if you tell the sister what you just told me, she might not react favorably. I'll do the talking with the girl and you can go try to pry info from Rudi. Later we'll compare notes, and see if anything amounts to 'bad forces'." Pleased with himself, Ian rocked back on his heels and studied Gabriel to see if he gave the go ahead.

"I don't agree. I talk to Mikayla, and you talk to Rudi. He's seventeen or there about. He's got brown hair and hazel eyes. I think." Gabriel began to stride purposefully away from Ian in the direction of the party. Ian had no choice but to follow suit.

There were at least fifty, maybe more teenagers crammed into the narrow space between the trees and the cave shelf. Some were standing a few feet away from the bonfire in the middle; others were standing on a rock ledge to his left. Still others milled about in the tiny open space in front of him.

The small space made the fifty plus kids attending seem like a thousand, and Ian moaned to himself. How the hell was he supposed to pick out a boy with brown hair and hazel eyes he didn't know in almost total darkness? His eyesight was good, but it would take a near miracle to locate him.

Someone roughly pushed Ian from behind and he stumbled blindly for a few seconds before he got his bearings. 

"Oh god, I'm sorry. Someone shoved me and I stumbled… Well anyway, really sorry." A young voice came from Ian's left, and he turned to see who it was.

"Forgive me?" It was a tall, rather thin boy with brownish hair and hazel colored eyes. He extended his hand to Ian. "My name is Rudi Villiers."

That was easy, Ian mused and took Rudi's outstretched hand enthusiastically. 

"Ah, Rudi. You're just the person I was looking for. Mind if I ask you a few questions?"

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"It's all right to make mistakes/Deep inside everyone's hiding something…"

Gabriel, on the other hand, wasn't having much luck trying to locate Mikayla. He estimated she would be around Rudi's age, but he hadn't a clue what she would look like. His memories of Mikayla were of short, twelve-year-old girl with wispy brown-blonde hair and a vague resemblance to Rebecka. Maybe he was prejudiced, but no girl he had seen tonight resembled Rebecka's beauty in any way shape or form.

"Haven't located the kid-sis yet?" Ian's upper-crust accent cut into his thoughts like a well-honed scalpel. 

"Not yet." Gabriel turned to face him and sighed. "I didn't expect to find her, though. The only thing I know about her is that she somewhat looks like Rebecka, but that's all."

"You have a picture of Rebecka?" Gabriel nodded and took out a picture from his back jean pocket. He handed it to Ian and said nothing as Ian studied it with earnest.

"I saw a girl who looked exactly like this talking to Rudi about ten or fifteen minutes ago. And I mean exactly. The only thing different was that she had blue eyes. Either she was the sister Mikayla or your girlfriend has been resurrected from the dead and changed her eye color." Ian handed the photo back to Gabriel and looked around the general area for good form before turning back to Gabriel. "I wish you the best of luck on finding her."

"Yeah, thanks." But Gabriel wasn't really paying any attention to anything Ian said. The only thing that mattered to him was Mikayla.

"I'll go talk to Rudi again and see if I can't try to pinpoint her location." Ian slapped Gabriel on the back and walked away. 

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"It's been a long day coming and it can't last/I'm helpless to watch it pass…"

Leaning on a pine tree, Mikayla surveyed Gabriel from less then fifty feet away. He was staring into the firelight in deep concentration and seemed lost in his own thoughts. 

The shadows hid her face, so she wasn't the slightest worried he would see her. Because he was, after all, looking for her. She had overheard Rudi talking the vampire named Ian earlier who had mentioned something about Gabriel wanting to talk to her.

About what? That was the most puzzling part of the picture for Mikayla. What could he possibly have to say to her that was so important? 

She studied him a moment longer trying to decide whether or not to approach him. She gingerly touched the black-purple bruises on her face and winced. She had tried to cover them with makeup, but you could still see them.

She hadn't even known why she had come tonight. After that horrible display with Regina last night, every inch of her body hurt, especially her black right eye. She should have stayed home, but then Audrey and her boyfriend Kris had come over and one thing had lead to another…

And now she was here. Audrey had abandoned her from the get-go, drinking heavily and in between drinks making out with Kris. The only person she had bothered to talk with had been Rudi. She really did hate him, but couldn't help feel an overwhelming pity for the kid. Why, she couldn't say.

"It's been a long time." Mikayla didn't realize she had spoken out loud until Gabriel looked over at her.

"Excuse me?" His voice was beautiful, exactly like she remembered it from her childhood. Silky and seductive, Mikayla mused. It was a killer.

"I said it's been a long time." She stayed concealed in the shadows so he couldn't see her face. It appealed to her romantic's heart a little, the mysterious maiden bewitching the storybook beautiful prince. 

"Do I know you?" He had since turned to face her, but didn't move in her direction. She wondered why, but didn't think on it long. She was too busy taking him in. 

He had been handsome as a boy, but as an adult he was stunning. Mikayla didn't think she'd ever seen someone so absolutely…gorgeous. He had the body of an athlete, lean and strong, but compact. Dark blue jeans went famously with a tight black shirt that suited him well and showed off his upper-body strength. His hair was a tawny, bronzed color, his face was nicely tanned, and he had cheekbones to die for. His eyes were still a golden-brown that matched his hair. All in all, he made quite the picture.

"Yeah, you do." It was now or never, she thought as she slid into the light of the bonfire to face him. "It's Mikayla, Rebecka's sister? Do you remember me?" 

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